Transcendence
by Lady Rheena
Summary: Third of the Antecedent series. AU. Humanity's future lies in the balance as the origin of the mysteries surrounding the Institute and its agents are revealed to lie in both the past and the future, with the Doctor standing at the vital turning point.
1. Part 1

Title: Transcendence

Author: Lady Rheena

Rating: T (some violence and non-kiddie friendly stuff)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Evidently. No money. Don't sue. Please.

Notes: I am primarily a TNS Who fan and won't try to convince anyone otherwise. Any muff-ups I therefore make with TOS continuity can just be considered part of the AU definition. The Antecedent Series was written midway through TNS season two, and begins just after the events of _Tooth and Claw_.

**Transcendence**

**Part 1**

'You will explain yourself in words understandable to our specialists or your companions will suffer the consequences!'

'Look, I _really_ wish you'd stop threatening me,' the Doctor said in a bored tone. 'It's getting old. And I've told you what happened in the simplest possible terms. If your under-evolved craniums can't grasp the principle then it's not my fault, is it?'

'The new tank will be ready in forty-six hours, _Doctor_. I'm sure you'll find it…just as _accommodating_ as the old one.' The Director strode away without further comment. Asha, however, sidled closer so her face was almost touching the Doctor's, separated only by the hair-thin invisible width of the forcefield.

'See you in the lab, Doc,' she sneered.

Rose felt her fists tighten, but before she could summon a suitable expletive Asha had strode out. The Doctor leaned on the panel above the door and watched their party of captors until they turned a corner out of sight, then glanced back.

'How is she?'

'I can't tell,' Nat said to him from where she was sitting beside Freyja, who was still covered head to toe in the Doctor's trenchcoat. 'Since you won't let me _look_ at her.'

'Couldn't risk _them_ seeing it.' He hunkered down next to the prone figure and felt for what Rose assumed was a pulse.

'What happened to her?' she asked. 'Doctor?'

'Something that shouldn't be possible. Not yet.' Frowning, he looked about warily. 'Any surveillance in here?'

'Wall opticals,' Cal supplied, indicating.

'Right. Someone give me a leg up.'

A few deft manipulations with the sonic screwdriver produced two bangs and a moderate amount of smoke. He did make an attempt at the forcefield, but as Rose had expected it was deadlock sealed; the one thing the handy little tool couldn't help them with.

'Not like they'd have let you keep hold of that if you could get us out with it,' Jack pointed out.

'To be honest I'm surprised they didn't nick it anyway,' the Doctor admitted with a snort. 'It'd look good in the _museum_. Right next to poor old K-9.'

'Personally I wouldn't put the universe's greatest lockpick, concealed weapon and fix-everything device on the same level as a talking tin dog,' Will said drolly, 'But whatever.'

'Oi!' The Doctor seemed to take umbrage at that.

'Talking _what_?' Rose said, baffled.

'Never mind. Here, help me get her up here.'

Once Freyja was laid out on the one small bunk in the cell he sent Jack to keep watch at the forcefield and slowly peeled his coat away. Rose had to do a double take.

'But that's…not Freyja!' Cal exclaimed. He looked accusingly at the Doctor. 'What did you do? Some kind of blink displacer? Who _is_ she?'

'That's Freyja,' the Doctor said to him, although his gaze remained fixed on her face. 'That's her, right there. And I didn't do anything.' He pursed his lips thoughtfully. 'She did it all herself.'

'Did _what_?' Nat demanded. 'That _can't_ be her! It looks nothing _like_-'

At this point Freyja- or whoever it was- opened her mouth very slightly in a half sigh. A vaporous cloud of…_something…_that glowed with a yellowish luminescence floated from her lips and dissolved into the air. Rose felt her jaw drop.

'I've seen that before.'

'Yes,' the Doctor agreed. 'You have.' He gave her a wink which was totally at odds with his otherwise solemn attitude.

'But…_how_? She's human! Isn't she?'

'She _was_.' He scratched at his ear speculatively. 'Technically she still is, for the most part. Organs and DNA and all that gubbins. But otherwise…'

'Will you two stop talking in code and explain what the fardling hell has happened to her?' Cal snapped.

'Seconded,' Jack said from his post at the forcefield.

'She's regenerated,' Rose said quietly, still boggling at the altered face before her. 'But…I thought only Time Lords could do that.'

'Regen-' Nat gaped at her. 'Just like that?'

'Just like that,' the Doctor agreed, and idly reached out to smooth down a stray lock of hair on Freyja's transformed head. 'And ginger, look, first time! Some people have all the luck.' When this didn't elicit any response he looked up and sighed. 'Look, _my_ species used to be more or less like yours. Mortal coil. We _evolved_ to a state where further physical refinement wasn't actually possible. Most species do, eventually, discounting mutations. And then nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a million just stay there until there's some freak alteration in the environment and they become extinct. But the remaining one in a million- like mine- makes the last leap.'

'Beyond the mortal coil?' Nat asked.

'That's the one. I had a feeling humans might be capable of it, but this-' indicating Freyja '-this isn't right. It's too soon. She shouldn't have been able to manipulate time, let alone _this_…'

'Is that what happened?' Rose said, shocked. 'She…made time run backwards?'

He nodded.

'Timestorm. _Very_ tricky process, and takes a helluva lot out of you even if you can do it. Hence the resulting deadness, usually. But instead of just dying she regenerated. And I don't know how. I mean, you lot are top of the niche in terms of physiological development-' gesturing to Cal and the others '-but your mental evolution's another story. She _shouldn't_ have been able to do that. And she _definitely_ shouldn't be able to do this! Except clearly she can, because she's doing it right now,' he added as another golden mist drifted up.

'More paradox?' Rose hazarded.

'Must be connected. It's too _weird_ to be a random event.'

'In the Tardis you said-' Will frowned '-you said you thought you'd met Freyja before.'

'I did. But I couldn't remember, which is also balderdash. I have a completely infallible memory.' The Doctor ran his hands through his hair, gritting his teeth in frustration. 'The Tardis. The answer _has_ to be inside the other Tardis! I didn't want to risk opening it, but I don't think there's any other choice.'

'I'm right with you, big guy,' Jack said dryly. 'But how exactly are we going to _get_ there?' He spread his hands to indicate their current predicament.

'I'll think of something. But I'm not risking a jailbreak until we know how she is.' The Doctor reached out to feel Freyja's brow. 'It's always a dodgy process-'

'Tell me about it,' Rose said without humour.

'-and since in all technicality she's doing it even though for her it ought to be impossible…_oh_…' he stopped, as her eyelids flickered. 'Freyja?' Then, in the supremely gentle tone Rose heard him use only very rarely, 'How're you feeling, sweetheart?'

Her eyes, when they opened, were no longer chocolate brown but a clear sky-blue colour.

'My…head…' and her voice, too, was different. Throatier, with what Rose could only place as a posh Oxford English accent. Then again, the Doctor had gone from Northern to almost cockney…

'Sssh,' he soothed. 'Your head's the least of your worries, believe me. I mean in yourself. How do you _feel_?'

'Wrong.' Her face, now narrower, paler and devoid of its freckles, twisted in pain. 'And…inside…'

'I know, I know.' The Doctor took her hand and glanced at Rose. 'Her internal organs are still dying and re-growing. The outward appearance always goes first. That's the easy part.'

Rose winced appreciatively. She didn't even _want_ to imagine what that felt like. But she could clearly remember the state the Doctor had been in, bundled up in her bed back in Mum's flat sweating, groaning and muttering in his sleep.

'Doctor-' Freyja grabbed at him '-what's _happened_ to me?'

'You've changed,' he said quietly.

'For better?' Her eyes pleaded with him.

'For good.'

'But I-' she shuddered and half curled in on herself '-my _head_!'

'Neurone implosion. _Damn_.' The Doctor made a face. 'And nothing to ease it with.' He gave her hand a squeeze. 'Just hold on, Freyja. Hold on!'

She didn't respond, having apparently lapsed back into unconsciousness. Which, Rose reflected, was probably a mercy although the other woman's brows remained furrowed in pain. The Doctor, however, sprang into action.

'We've _got_ to get out of here.' He stood up and gestured for them all to join him. 'Ideas. Come on, people. Use those gorgeous brains of yours. Rose, Jack, you too.'

'Say one of us is sick?' Rose suggested, wracking her brains to think of all the jailbreak scenarios she'd seen in films. 'Er…bribe a guard?'

'With _what_?' Jack exclaimed. 'And since we brought Freyja _in_ out cold and wrapped in a coat I don't think they care much about someone being _sick_.'

'Well do you have a better idea?'

'I could try seducing a guard instead…'

'Good god man, do you _ever_ stop?' the Doctor exclaimed.

'I bet I could do it!'

'_No_! We will almost definitely…probably not be using that plan. Keep thinking!'

'Rose!' Cal said.

'What?' Rose blinked at him. 'You think _I _should try seducing a guard?'

'Enough with the seducing guards!' the Doctor shouted.

'No, I meant holographic Rose,' Cal said, blushing for a moment. 'If we could reach her she might be able to override the security field. Provided the Board hasn't shut her off, of course, but-'

'Worth a try. Will, c'mere.' The Doctor climbed up onto Will's shoulders again and set to fiddling with the camera feed with the sonic screwdriver. 'I can send her a signal…but what?' He looked at Rose. 'Something so she knows it's from me. A reference or something…_think_!'

'Uh…' Rose gestured helplessly '…Bad Wolf? No, that wouldn't work. Mickey the idiot? No…'

'Tell her,' Jack said, suddenly and with great deliberation, 'It's got _tusks_.'

The Doctor broke into a grin.

'Good man!' He fiddled a bit more and then dropped down. 'There. Done. Sent a Morse code signal through the feedback loop on the audio input.'

'I don't know morse code!' Rose protested.

'No, but your hologram does. She's got access to the entire Institute's databanks,' Cal assured her. 'If she's out there, she should understand. Although…I don't get the message.' And he looked questioningly at Jack.

'In joke.'

'Ah.'

'Nat, keep an eye on Freyja,' the Doctor added. 'Any change, tell me. Well, any _more_ change, I mean.'

'_Jack? Doctor?_' The whisper was barely audible and he shushed everyone. '_Doctor, is that you_?'

'Rose? Can you hear me?'

'_Just about. I patched through the secondary feed. Oh, god, are you okay_?'

'I'm fine, but we're in a bit of a pickle and wondered if you might be able to give us a hand.'

'_Of course. What do you need_?'

'An escape route, for preference.'

'_Hang on. I've got you…it'll take me a minute to hack the security grid_.'

'Handy sort, isn't she?' the Doctor said with a grin at the real Rose.

'_Right, I've got it. But I can't isolate your cell_.'

'So let everyone out!' Will said. 'The rest of the Loyalist teams can make a surprise counteroffensive, and it'll give us plenty of opportunity to get back to the museum.'

'_Doctor_?'

He frowned.

'I was hoping for a quiet getaway. Less shooting and blood and gore and whatnot.'

'_Well you won't get one, I'm afraid. They've sealed the lab so that Tardis is out of the picture, and this level's crawling with troopers._'

For a horrible moment Rose thought he was going to refuse, but then she saw his gaze slide to Freyja and a new resolution settled onto his expression.

'Do it.'

'_Just a sec_…' there was a fizzing noise '…_good luck_!'

Cal scooped up Freyja, still wrapped in the Doctor's coat. The lone guard at the end of the cell block was already laying unconscious with another uniformed Traveller standing over him. More were leaving their cells now, but it was the man who'd felled the guard who snapped to first and saluted the Doctor.

'_Sah_!'

The Doctor boggled at him for a moment.

'Ah, right. And you are…?'

'Traveller Instructor Yarris, sir. Took me down in the middle of trying to rally my class, sir.'

'Right. Well, less of the _sir_ if you don't mind…'

'Aye sir!'

He gave up.

'We need to get to the museum, to the other Tardis. Can you-' indicating the escapees in general '-provide a distraction?'

'A racket like hell deep down, sir,' Yarris said with a broad grin, and then shifted to a drillmaster style bellow. '_All right you lot, you heard the man_!'

'We should go with you,' Will said.

'No chance, boy,' Yarris told him. 'You stay with the Doctor here. Don't feck up and let 'em catch him _again_!'

'Oh, wonderful,' the Doctor said mildly. 'Bodyguards. Will, I need you to _watch Freyja_, do you hear?'

'But-' Will appealed to Yarris again. 'If there's fighting we ought to be fighting _with_ you.'

'Absolutely not.' In an almost paternal gesture, Yarris patted Will's shoulder. 'When the Doctor calls, lad, you answer.'

'You know,' the Doctor said to Rose in an undertone, 'This folk hero thing is really starting to bother me.'

'Now,' Yarris added to Will, 'Bugger off and do as you're told.'


	2. Part 2

Title: Transcendence

Author: Lady Rheena

Rating: T (some violence and non-kiddie friendly stuff)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Evidently. No money. Don't sue. Please.

Notes: I am primarily a TNS Who fan and won't try to convince anyone otherwise. Any muff-ups I therefore make with TOS continuity can just be considered part of the AU definition. The Antecedent Series was written midway through TNS season two, and begins just after the events of _Tooth and Claw_.

**Transcendence**

**Part 2**

'He was my instructor in Basic Temporal Mechanics,' Will explained to Rose as they headed off down the corridor in the opposite direction from the _pip-_pip of the shooting. 'Well, _our_ instructor, actually. He knows every story about the Doctor off by heart, and he was always dropping anecdotes into his lectures-' he stopped when the Doctor, at the front of the line, abruptly flattened himself against the wall, gesturing impatiently for quiet. Rose strained her ears in the ensuing silence and could just about hear the thud of footsteps on the grilled floor. Beside her, Jack counted slowly to three under his breath and then spun out into the junction. There was a muted _aargh_ and he reappeared with a gun in his hand, grinning.

'Ladies and gentlemen-' he held up what looked to Rose like a credit card '-we are now armed.'

It turned out to be a keycard, not a credit card, and gained them access to one of the arms storage lockers distributed about the deck. Once everyone was armed- except the Doctor, of course, who only ever used the sonic screwdriver- and even Rose herself had been given a moderately destructive-looking hand pistol, Nat tapped the Doctor on the shoulder.

'We could leave her here,' she said, indicating Freyja. 'Seal the door. She'd be safe…until it's over.'

'No.' He didn't even give the idea a moment's consideration. 'She stays with us.'

'Doctor, I'm all for keeping an eye on her too but don't you think carting an unconscious body about is a bit of a liability?' Will pointed out.

'Shut it, mate,' Cal said to him. 'Since you're not the one doing the carting! Besides, it's _Freyja_. And she weighs almost nothing,' he added. 'Is that a side-effect?'

'Not bloody likely,' Rose said with a snort. 'Took me _and_ Mickey to shift _him_-' indicating the Doctor '-when he was out of it.'

'What do you mean, she weighs almost nothing?' the Doctor barked, ignoring the jibe. 'Why didn't you _say_ something?' He crouched down by Freyja's prone form and laid a hand on her forehead. 'Oh my god, she's losing all cohesive matter interlock…'

'She's what?' Rose asked.

'Her body's converting to pure energy. No wonder she doesn't weigh anything, there's hardly any mass left!'

'Can you stop it?' Nat demanded. 'Can you help her?'

'Someone shut that door.' When Cal complied he took a deep breath. 'Well. Haven't done _this_ in a while.' Then before anyone could ask or protest he leaned down and kissed Freyja on the lips. Rose felt her jaw drop.

'What bleeding good did _that_ do?' Will exclaimed. 'Kiss of life?'

'I thought that involved breathing in-' Rose began diplomatically.

'It wasn't breath I was giving her,' the Doctor said, straightening and picking Freyja up as though she weight absolutely nothing, which she apparently did. 'I gave her a little of my cohesive energy. With any luck it'll…well, slow the process a bit at best.'

'You mean you _can't_ stop it?' Nat said, horrified. 'She's going to turn into energy and there's _nothing we can do_?'

'We can get to the Tardis and sort this blasted mess out is what! Cal, since you're the only one not whining, lead the way!'

The museum was strangely unguarded when they got there, having run into only a few lone guards in the ensuing passageways, all of whom seemed to be en route to somewhere else. Clearly the diversion provided by Yarris and the others was doing its job. The Doctor deposited Freyja gently onto the platform next to the K-9 whatever-it-was as Cal reactivated the holomatrix.

'_You made it_!' Holo-Rose didn't waste time on pleasantries. '_What are you going to do_?'

'Either solve the mystery or make the universe implode,' the Doctor said levelly, eyeing the Tardis on its plinth.

'_Ah_. _So, business as usual then…_'

'Oi!'

'Rose? Come on, we need to barricade this door,' Jack said to her. 'Imploding the universe is one thing but he's gonna need _time_.'

'Great. Giving time to a Time Lord. What's wrong with _this_ picture?'

The humans spent some time wrecking the museum to build an improvised blockade in the inner archway after the Doctor had sealed the outer hatch with the sonic screwdriver. He then returned his attention to the Tardis, pacing around it and muttering to himself as if trying to see it from all possible angles at the same time.

'_They know you're down here_,' holo-Rose said suddenly, sounding frightened. '_They're overriding my access circuits_!'

The Doctor sprang across the room and attacked her control panel with the screwdriver before anyone else could react. There were some sparks and then a funny _woooo_ noise that made everyone jump.

'There,' he said to her. 'I've isolated your control algorithm to this point.'

'_I can't see out of this room!_'

'But they can't shut you off, either-' he was cut off by an explosion that made the bulkheads rattle.

'They're in!' Jack shouted as the air filled with the _pip-pip_ of laser fire. 'Whatever you're gonna do, Doc, make it fast!'

'I don't know!' The Doctor scrabbled at his head frantically. 'I don't _know_!'

'_Doctor_!' Rose yelled as Cal fell backwards to the ground when a laser bolt impacted him squarely in the chest. 'Oh god…'

'Move!' Jack roared. 'Fall back, fall back!'

Dragging Cal with them, they dived away from the barricade as it blew apart under the irresistible assault of the Institute's weaponry.

'Doctor! Jack, we've got to get to him!' Rose shouted.

'_No_!' the hologram screamed. '_Stay with Freyja_!'

Before Rose could counter this idea a dozen armoured troopers jogged in, taking up offensive positions around the archway. Orders were barked around in voices made harsh and guttural by the filters on the full face masks.

'Freeze! Nobody move! Where's the target? Primary objective located!'

The Doctor looked up, right at Rose, and she felt her throat close up.

_Run_, she mouthed at him, willing him to obey _her_ for once. _Get into that Tardis and RUN_!

He cocked his head on one side and then, completely unexpectedly, gave a little smile and mouthed back.

_No_.

'You! Doctor! Don't move!' one of the troopers barked. Turning his back on the room, the Doctor reached out with both hands…and flung the doors of the Tardis wide open. Rose had to shield her eyes at the violent explosion of light, painful in its intensity. A strange singing filled her ears and her mind at the same time as a curious awareness flooded back. She _remembered_ this…

'And why shouldn't you?' an unmistakeably Northern accented voice said. 'Isn't it your memory and no one else's?'

Blinking rapidly to clear her eyes of the afterflash, Rose slowly got to her feet and looked about in amazement. Time seemed to have stopped altogether. A dozen laser bolts were hanging in midair on their way to the Tardis. Jack was frozen midway through lunging for his dropped gun. Her hologram was motionless, one hand outstretched in a warning. Even the dust motes in the air stood perfectly still like bubbles in an ice cube, casting a billion tiny shadows on the far wall. With difficulty she turned her gaze towards the source of that light, that voice, and gasped.

'No…' she shook her head. It _couldn't_ be.

'It is.'

'How?' she breathed. 'How can you-'

'Oh, you'd be amazed what I can do when I put my mind to it.' He flashed one of those old goofy grins she remembered so well and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a cry because it _was_ him, entirely him, from the grey-blue eyes to the jug ears and the just-too-big black leather jacket.

'You're…you're _you_ again!'

'I've always been me, dummy!'

'I know, but…the _old_ you!' Rose didn't know whether to laugh or cry. '_How_? How are you…here?'

'I've always been here. That's the paradox, you see.' He spread his arms wide. 'See when I was stuck in that isolation tank, I was screaming blue murder but the only person who could hear me was _me_! And I heard me screaming just as I took you home for your twentieth birthday. Tell your mum the cake was lovely, by the way.'

'What?'

'Well, knowing I'd need me, I went back into the Tardis and stayed there! Seventeen billion-odd years. _Boooring_. Mind you, I didn't stay corporeal. Couldn't! Wouldn't have worked, otherwise.'

'Then…what happened?'

'Got myself absorbed into the Tardis, didn't I!' He seemed extremely pleased with himself about this declaration. 'We did it, the Tardis and me. Created a paradox. Knew I'd end up here, so I had to make sure I was already here to help me when I did!'

'But you're _here_…in that shape…' Rose groaned '…you're not making any _sense_!'

'Yeah, I'm good at that,' someone said from behind her. She whirled, flabbergasted, to find the Doctor giving the motionless face of a nearby trooper a cursory inspection. He straightened and wrinkled his nose at her. 'Why are evil henchmen always so _ugly_, do you think?'

'But- but-' Rose looked at the Tardis doorway. The Doctor grinned. She turned back to the arch. The Doctor grinned. 'There's _two_ of you!'

The Doctor by the Tardis- the _old_ Doctor, looking as he had when she'd first met him- gave a laugh.

'Give the girl a medal! She can count to two.'

'_Oh_, I don't know.' The new Doctor, with the somewhat younger-looking face she'd come to be so familiar with, gave a one-shouldered shrug and walked across so he was standing side by side with his counterpart. 'I think she's doing well not to have a brain implosion, myself.'

'Hmm. Good point. Shame about the gormless expression, though.'

'Oh, that's a human thing, they all do that.' Then they both laughed while Rose boggled at them.

'Hang on…' she gestured to the old Doctor '…_you_ were inside the other Tardis?'

'Yep.'

'And _you_-' indicating the other one '-you're the real Doctor? The one I know?'

'We're both the _real_ Doctor,' the older one said. 'I've just lived a longer and different version of history to this one-' jerking a thumb at his equivalent.

'It's called a Time Bubble, Rose,' the younger Doctor said, more patiently. 'That's why there are two Tardises. And two of me! This station, the Institute, the Travellers, all of it, is a self-contained bubble of history floating about in the currents of Time. It exists because of a version of your future which will no longer happen, but because it's in the bubble it _can_ still exist. It's protected. By me- well, him- and by this Tardis.'

'Oh.' Rose tried to get her head around the concept. 'So…what now?'

'Time to burst the bubble!' the older one said gleefully. 'Or, rather, pick it up and throw it back into Time and _then_ burst it.'

'How?'

'Ah, well.' The younger Doctor gave her a wink. 'That would be telling.'

'And there's two of you now? Permanently?'

'Oh, _no_. Got to be only one of me or the paradox still exists.' A broad grin. 'The universe is only big enough for one Doctor!'

'Then…one of you is going to die?' Rose said, stunned.

'I'm already dead, Rose,' the older Doctor said sadly. 'Gave up my corporeal body- my _life_, as you'd call it- to merge with the Tardis and create the bubble. And the Tardis- _my_ Tardis- is dying now. It gave all its life force to create the bubble. It's got nothing left.'

'But you're-' she stopped, looking from one to the other as bitter realisation dawned. 'One Time Lord, one Tardis?'

'That's the rule.' Suddenly they were speaking simultaneously, their voices blending together in a curious harmony.

Rose glanced about.

'How come everyone else is…stuck? How come _I_ can see this happening?'

'You looked into the Tardis, Rose Tyler. You saw the heart of the time vortex. And while I took the vortex out of you, I couldn't quite take you out of the vortex. You're linked to it- and to me- for good, and nothing anyone can do will change that. Now.' The double-grin was eerie. 'Here we go.'

A roaring sound, like a rushing wind, drowned out the ethereal singing of the Tardis. Rose watched, awestruck, as the older Doctor seemed to step _into_ the younger one. He gave a strange shiver and rubbed at his hair, and then was standing quite by himself.

'Now _that_ felt weird.'

'Are you all right?' she hazarded.

'I have a very strange urge to talk with a northern accent, but I think I'm on top of it.' He made a face. 'Here goes. You might want to duck.'

Rose threw herself at the floor, expecting another flash of light, but there was nothing. When she dared to look the Doctor was facing the Tardis doors again, but they were still closed.

'Throw down your arms!' one of the troopers yelled, about to blow Jack's head off.

'Do it!' she shouted. 'Jack, do it! Will, Nat, drop 'em!'

'_What_?'

'_DO IT_!' she shrieked, one eye on the soldiers and one on the Doctor. They all seemed as surprised as she was when they obeyed, although Jack gave her a frankly dirty look as the troopers disarmed them and incarcerated them between two exhibit stands. Radio orders were exchanged, some shouting done, and a report was given about the Loyalist forces throwing themselves on Institute guns as their own weapons ran out of the power pack charges that constituted ammunition.

But nobody made a single move in the Doctor's direction. The soldiers didn't seem to have realised he was standing there.

'What's he _doing_?' Jack hissed.

'Not sure.' Since nobody else had been even marginally aware of the interruption in the normal flow of time, Rose decided not to try and explain. She scuttled to the back wall where Cal had been propped up, his breathing laboured and in obvious pain although still alive. Laying next to him was Freyja, still wrapped in the Doctor's trenchcoat. On a hunch, Rose lifted it away from her face to find her eyes open and alive.

'Rose…'

'What?' Rose took her hand. 'Freyja, what is it?'

'I…create…myself…'

'Doctor!' The unmistakeable voice of the Director rang out across the room before Rose could reply. Freyja gave a shudder and flinched as if the sound hurt her. Rose gripped her hand tighter.

'I'm here, Director,' the Doctor said from the plinth, in a curiously detached tone. 'I'm here.'

'Your followers are being slaughtered at their lines, Doctor,' she snapped. 'Surrender and I may consider sparing their lives. This has gone on long enough!'

'Yes,' he agreed. 'It has.'

'Oh god,' Cal muttered indistinctly. 'Rose, don't let him-'

'S'all right, Cal, he knows what he's doing,' she said. _I hope…_

'Then you yield?' the Director pressed.

'No.' The Doctor turned around. 'I don't.'

Behind him, the doors of the Tardis flew outwards of their own accord. Light streamed out, blindingly bright, flooding the room with its brilliance before it faded to outline the Doctor, now a dark silhouette standing before an unearthly glow. It surrounded him, seeped over and about and even somehow _through_ him. He opened his eyes and Rose gasped again, because in place of their usual gentle hazel they burned with some inner fire that lit his face as brightly as the Tardis illuminated its surroundings. His lips parted and formed words but it wasn't just his voice he spoke in. It was the old Doctor's, and what seemed like a thousand others besides. The voice of _every_ Doctor? But there was no dischord, no sense of an echo. That voice was a billion voices at once, and yet at the same time only one.

'_You wanted to see the power of the Time Lords._'

The Director shielded her eyes with one hand, her mouth open in amazement.

'Y- yes?'

'_You wanted to feel it firsthand. You wanted it for yourself_.'

'Yes!'

'_You cannot feel it_.' He tilted his chin up slightly. '_It will destroy you_.'

'It won't! We humans have power you can't conceive of-'

'_SILENCE_!' That command seemed to take on a physical shape as it rolled around the room. '_You know nothing of infinity or eternity. Yesterday and tomorrow are closed to you. Even in the now you barely know yourselves. I see all. All that was. All that is. All that ever could be._' Again Rose's memory stirred. The words seemed familiar. '_You are not ready for that knowledge in even the smallest measure_.'

'We are ready!' How the Director could even think of arguing with that luminous, godlike figure was beyond Rose's comprehension. 'Who are _you_ to decide?'

'_I am the Lord of Time_.'

'You are a relic! A last remnant of a dead people! You are _alone_!'

'_No_.' That came out as barely a whisper. '_Not any more._'

'What?'

'_I am not alone._'

'What can you possibly mean by that-'

Beside her, Rose felt Freyja stir. She reached out to restrain her but she'd already stood up.

'Where do you think you're-' Rose stopped short when Freyja looked down at her. The same opalescence was glowing in her eyes as in the Doctor's, and there was a similar duality in her voice as the old and new incarnations spoke together.

'_I create myself_…'

'Oh my god.'

'Her?' The Director's head turned towards Freyja. '_You_! How? How can you-'

'_You cannot take by force what may only be given freely_,' the Doctor said. '_You wish for a curse. The world is not that unkind._'

'A curse?' The Director spat. 'Eternal life? Limitless rejuvenation? How is that a _curse_?'

'_That you cannot understand proves that you are not ready_.'

'And _she_ is?'

'_If she was not ready, she would not be what she now is_.'

'How?' The Director turned to Freyja, half commanding, half beseeching. 'Tell us what you did, Freyja. Your _own people_-'

'I have no people.' Freyja's voice abruptly shifted back to the Oxford accent again. 'We have no people.'

'You are a human woman, Freyja, whatever else you may have become-'

'I am less.'

'And _more_!'

'I am less. I cannot die. I go on.' To Rose's astonishment there were tears on Freyja's cheeks. 'I go on. Alone.'

'_No_.'

She looked up, towards the Doctor. A slight smile curved his lips.

'_You are not alone_.'

'But I-' slowly, she lifted one hand out towards him.

'No!' The Director whirled to her troops. 'Fire! Kill him! She must be ours! Ours to control, to understand!'

Rose screamed as a hundred laser bolts shot through the air towards the Doctor's glowing figure. He held up one hand, palm out, and they vanished in mid-air. She shut her mouth, gobsmacked.

'Wow,' Jack said in her ear. 'Never saw him do _that_ before.'

'Me neither.'

'_You are so very young_,' the Doctor said, and Rose thought he sounded almost sad. The Director, for her part, seemed only to grow more furious.

'You have no right!' she roared. 'She is _human_! We are her people!'

'_You are nothing_. _You are potential without substance._' For some reason she couldn't pin down, Rose suddenly felt very, very afraid of the Doctor. '_I will unmake you_-' he raised a hand.

'No!' That cry was from Freyja.

'_You defy me_?' Now Rose _was_ frightened. This wasn't like the Doctor at all.

'Isn't there enough nothingness in the universe?' Freyja said to him. 'Isn't there enough emptiness in space and time?'

'_They are tiny_!'

'As I was! As even you were!'

'_Newborn you would challenge me_?' He sounded angry.

'Yes,' she said brokenly. 'If this is what you really are.'

'_I have seen a billion suns set on a billion worlds! Nine hundred years in one body alone! How dare you defy me? HOW DARE YOU?_'

'Destroy him, Freyja!' the Director barked. 'If you can do it, _destroy _him!'

'No,' Freyja said quietly. 'I'm not like you.' She looked up at the Doctor again. 'And neither are you.'

There was a long pause. Rose wanted to say something, but somehow didn't dare. This wasn't anyone she knew. This wasn't her Doctor at all. Or was it? Suddenly his arm dropped.

'_No. Enough have died_.' He hung his head.

'Holy crap,' Will hissed. 'Rose-'

She tore her eyes away from the scene to see Cal sitting up, peering at his burn-free chest and looking thoroughly befuddled.

'Er-'

'_It ends_,' the Doctor said.

'And it begins,' Freyja added.

'_Life and death_.'

'The sun and the moon.'

'_The day and night_.' Lifting his chin up, he broke into a broad, boyish grin that made Rose's fear vanish as quickly as it had arrived. His voice shifted back and he was _her_ Doctor again, singular and entirely himself when he next spoke.

'So, Director…who's afraid of the big bad wolf?'

The final surge of power was blinding. It made Rose's hair stand on end and her skin cackle with static. Even closing her eyes and covering them didn't keep out the brilliance, but this time it wasn't at all painful. It felt like being washed clean by a steaming bath with no danger of being scalded. As the sensation ebbed, she gingerly levered herself upright in time to see the Doctor collapse.

'_Doctor_!' She half-ran, half-fell across the room to him, grabbing his head to force his chin up so she could see his face. 'Doctor? What…what was that? Are you all right?'

'Yeah…' he gave her another goofy smile '…I passed…'

'Passed? Passed what?'

'Gimme a hug…'

'What?'

'Good god girl, if you won't I will!' Jack pushed her aside. 'What in hell _was_ that?'

'I passed!' The slightly drunken tone evaporated and he sprang up, giving Jack such a hard slap on the shoulder they both nearly overbalanced. 'I passed! I did it!'

'Did what? What are you _on_ about?'

'Look! Look at them!'

Rose followed his gesture to see the Director and her troops spread about the room, to all appearances fast asleep.

'Wiped their memories!' the Doctor said gleefully. 'The whole lot! None of the other lot are dead any more, and the lot that were causing all the trouble- and _gosh_ there were a lot of them- have no recollection of anything except their own names! How _fantastic_ is that?'

'Yeah!' Rose was too distracted to be over-happy. 'But…what happened? I mean, it was like you _were_ the Tardis…' a horrible thought struck her '…are you going to regenerate again?'

'Nope! Wasn't me. Well, it was. It was the _other_ me.'

'But I thought no one was supposed to look into the time vortex-'

'Yep! No _one_. There was two of me!'

'Then the other Doctor, he's…gone?'

'Other Doctor?' Jack exclaimed. 'What _other Doctor_?'

'Dissolved,' the Doctor said to Rose, ignoring Jack. 'No longer exists as an entity, so to speak. But all the important stuff's up here.' He tapped the side of his head and then grimaced. 'Mostly consists of the memory of being non-corporeal and stuck inside the Tardis for seventeen billion years. Not exactly edge of your seat material.'

'Right. But when you went all…' she groped for a word '…scary just then…'

'That's what I mean, the test. I passed it! Come _on_, you must have heard the saying: _power corrupts and absolute power_-'

'Corrupts absolutely,' Jack finished. 'Huh?'

'So you actually had the power of the time vortex under control, and you could've wiped out the lot of them but you didn't?' Rose asked. 'That was the test?'

'Yep. Little trial from the innate fundamental forces of the universe, I think. Just checking up on me. And I passed! Mind you, there was a moment there-' he suddenly seemed to remember something and barged past her '-Freyja!'

'What the heck was that all about?' Jack demanded of Rose.

'I'll explain later.'

Freyja was standing in the middle of the room staring at the sleeping forms of the Institute's former Director and security forces. Her face was stained with tear-tracks and her eyes seemed strangely overlarge in her face. She turned around very slowly to look at them.

'It…it _burns_…'

He darted forwards to catch her just before she hit the floor.

'I know, I know it does. How do you feel? Headache still?'

'I…' she blinked '…no, actually.'

'No?' He frowned.

'Is that wrong?' Rose ventured.

'For someone experiencing a total neurone implosion and a total loss of cohesive matter interlock, _yes_.' He glared at Freyja accusingly. 'You should feel terrible!'

'Sorry.'

'_You know, considering she just saved you from eternal damnation you might try being a LITTLE polite to her_.' The hologram! Rose had forgotten all about her. '_And don't look at me like that, O Fleshy Incarnation, with all the vortex energy ricocheting around here most of my emitters jammed up so no wonder you couldn't SEE me_. _I saw you, though_.'

The Doctor rose and helped Freyja to stand. She was a little wobbly but otherwise seemed unharmed. It was only at this point Rose noticed Cal, Will and Nat picking their way slowly across the field of slumbering bodies, astonishment written on all three faces.

'What…' Nat shook her head '…_was_ that?'

'The death of a Tardis, amongst other things.' The Doctor turned to regard the darkened box on the plinth sadly. 'She gave her last for that final surge.'

'One Time Lord, one Tardis?' Cal said.

'That's the one.' He sighed. 'Still, no more paradox. You lot are going to drop out of your little bubble around the year fifteen billion- sorry, best I could do- around the Promar sector with any luck. There's a deserted planet there, unexplored by any notable species. You'll be able to set up there and pretend to be just another civilisation.'

'But the history…' Rose gestured '…everything that _happened_, in their past-'

'Did not, in fact, happen. Time bubble.' He grinned. 'Don't think about it too hard, or your brain'll melt and trickle out of your ears.'

'Right. Thanks. I won't.'

'Good girl. So the only thing that remains is what to do about _you_.' He accepted his coat from Nat with good grace and slipped it back on, thrusting his hands deeply into the pockets to regard Freyja thoughtfully. 'You're an evolutionary leap of another billion years at _least_ ahead of the rest of your species.'

'Why me?' she asked bluntly.

'Ah, the big question.' He pursed his lips. 'No idea.'

'You don't _know_?'

'Nope. Not the foggiest. Are you _sure_ you don't feel ill?' he added, a trifle suspiciously. 'Headache, chills, shivers, fever, aches and pains, feeling like your intestines are being cut up and then restitched together the other way around?'

'I'm sure. Although-' she laid a hand on her stomach '-I do feel a little-'

'Yes?' he pressed hopefully.

'Hungry,' she admitted. 'And I could _murder_ a cup of tea.'

Rose burst out laughing, as did the hologram.

'Cup of tea! Oh my god, where's Mum when you need her?'

'_Hungry_!' The Doctor was disgusted. 'You should be feeling _nauseous_, not _hungry_!'

'Sorry.' She frowned. 'I keep trying to remember something…but I'm not sure what.'

'Oh, that'll pass. Little minor amnesia. Comes with the new body.'

'And my hands itch a bit.'

'Oh, _crisis_.' He rolled his eyes. 'Itchy hands. Whatever next. Quick, call the doctor. Oh, wait, I'm already here.'

'No, Doctor, I mean it. My hands _really_ itch.' She held them up, a few inches apart, and Rose was somehow not all that surprised to see a faint glow coming from them. 'Is that supposed to happen?'

'Ah. No.' The Doctor bent down to give them a closer inspection. 'Now that's weird…'

'Something else for the list,' Jack said dryly as the glow intensified.

'Ow!' Freyja gave herself a shake. 'That stung!'

'If it hurts, don't hold them like that,' Cal suggested.

'I can't move them!' The glow was extending between her hands now, two spreading miasmic radiances. Where they touched a brighter spark appeared. 'Doc_tor_…'

'No!' He leapt back, waving his hands madly. '_No_! You're _kidding me_! It _can't_ be!' Then, crouching to peer at the spark again, 'It _is_! It _is_! Oh, _brilliant_! Oh, this is beyond brilliant! Oh, _wow_- here, Rose, watch this-' grabbing her arm and yanking her forwards '-oh _wow_, oh…_fantastic_!'

With a little _pop_ sound the spark abruptly detached itself from Freyja's hands and flitted away. She rubbed her palms together.

'What _is_ that?'

The Doctor's only response was a laugh as it shot past his face, doing a quick orbit of Rose's head and then hovering in front of Jack's nose until he swatted at it, whereupon it shot away again.

'Hyperactive firefly?' Will asked, making a face as it flew past him to whiz around Freyja again.

'_Looks like some kind of microscopic Tinkerbell_,' holo-Rose said.

'Definitely hyper,' Rose agreed. The Doctor grinned.

'Aw, it's so _cute_!' The mote seemed to react to his tone, floating a little closer to him. 'Oosa wuvvy ickle baybee den?'

'It likes you,' Freyja said, arching one eyebrow. 'And me,' she added when it promptly shot back to circle her head again. 'But what _is_ it?'

'Don't hit it,' the Doctor said when she flicked her wrist at it. 'It's only a baby. No wonder it's twitchy, it's not sure which of us it belongs to.'

'_Belongs_ to?' she echoed. He wafted the mote back towards her when it aimed for him again.

'Go on, go back to mummy!'

'_Mummy_?' Now Freyja sounded openly horrified.

'Doctor-' torn between amusement at the antics and irritation at his evasion, Rose tugged at his sleeve '-what _is_ that thing?'

He grinned at her.

'It's a Tardis. A brand spanking newborn baby Tardis.'

'A _Tardis_?' all the others exclaimed together.

'One Time Lord, one Tardis.' His smile at Freyja was warm and almost entirely devoid of mischief. 'Or in this case, Time _Lady_.'

'You mean it's-' Freyja ducked back to try and see the spark as it buzzed about her '-it's _mine_?'

'Yep! Don't mind the fidgets, they're like overexcited puppies when they're new. She'll settle down in a bit. Ah, there you go.' He beamed as the mote settled in the hand Freyja offered to it, a pinpoint glow against her skin. 'Your very own miniature Tardis. Needs a shell, of course, or she won't be good for much except driving you bonkers…' he suddenly whirled towards the box on the plinth. 'Of course! That's handy…look, this one's empty, isn't it? You can put her in there!'

'Are you sure?' Freyja peered at the little glow. 'She seems quite happy out here.'

'Believe me, she'll be better off with a shell. They like being useful. And they love travelling.' He winked. 'Go on, console's open. Just tip her in and close it.'

They all watched, incredulous, as Freyja hurried inside the blue box to obey. There was a loud _clank_ as the panel clicked back into place and then a loud whirring noise.

'It'll take her a minute to settle in,' the Doctor said by way of explanation. The whir became louder and then abruptly stopped. He cocked an ear and then grinned. A funny hum filled the air.

'What?' Rose nudged him. 'What's that noise?'

'They're talking to each other.'

'What…your Tardis and that one?'

'Yep!'

'What are they saying?' Nat asked.

'Oh, hello and how d'you do…think the old girl's giving the new one an operations rundown. Hold on, any second…' the lights in the one in front of them came on '…there you go!'

Freyja came out, beaming.

'All settled in?' the Doctor asked.

'Oh yes! I think she's quite comfortable. But I…' she looked momentarily flustered '…I mean, all those controls and things…'

'She'll show you how she works, don't worry.'

'One Time Lady, one Tardis?'

'That's the spirit! Now-' he sighed and glanced around '-we'd better figure out what to do with this lot, I suppose.'


	3. Part 3

Title: Transcendence

Author: Lady Rheena

Rating: T (some violence and non-kiddie friendly stuff)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Evidently. No money. Don't sue. Please.

Notes: I am primarily a TNS Who fan and won't try to convince anyone otherwise. Any muff-ups I therefore make with TOS continuity can just be considered part of the AU definition. The Antecedent Series was written midway through TNS season two, and begins just after the events of _Tooth and Claw_.

**Transcendence**

**Part 3**

The memory-wiped personnel proved strangely docile and with all the casualties that the Loyalists- who insisted on maintaining that name despite the Doctor's loud and frequent protests- had sustained being rendered moot by the final action of the old Tardis that left nearly a thousand active personnel on the base. Out of fifty thousand inhabitants this wasn't exactly overwhelming but once most of the 'reclaimed' men and women had been placed in harmless coldsleep tanks, suspended animation until they could be safely attended to, the situation wasn't entirely impossible. Rose, Freyja, Jack and the Doctor worked along with everyone else although the extraordinary stories of the Doctor's brief transit into godhood and Freyja's so-called ascendance often left them with more boggling bystanders than co-workers. The Doctor seemed back to his old self, taking the celebrity status in his stride with a wry remark or a cocky retort, but Freyja deferred to him far more often than she accepted any accolades herself.

'It's odd,' Jack said on the fifth day. 'I got one of those bods down on Maintenance to make a check, and we're missing a timeship.'

'Missing?' The Doctor took the plastic printout sheet from him and scowled at it. 'Whose?'

'Five-five-two-seven,' Freyja said, reading over his shoulder which- now- she was just tall enough to do. 'That's _Asha's_ ship.'

'Medical reports no tabs on her whereabouts,' Jack added. 'I had someone check. We've got a complete census of all inactive personnel, including former Director Katharyn, but no Traveller Asha. So I guess the inevitable conclusion is our favourite little Judas skipped base.'

'She can't have,' the Doctor insisted. 'Her memory should have been cleared along with all the others.'

'And yet!'

'Well…' he sighed. 'She can't do much harm on her own. As long as she doesn't shoot me again. I don't like being shot. It stings like anything, and this is the only decent suit I've got so I can't really go having holes shot in it. Last time was lucky, of course.' He flashed Freyja a cheeky smile and gave her a nudge. 'Eh?'

'I don't like her being out there still, Doctor. She's still clever, and that makes her still dangerous.'

'Are you implying I'm not smarter than her?'

'She outwitted you once.'

'Ah, but _now_ I shall be doubly on my guard.'

'Don't worry,' Rose added with a grin. 'I'll keep an eye on him.'

'We-ell…' Freyja didn't sound so sure but the Doctor dismissed the notion, passing the printout back to Jack.

'So, that's that, then.'

'Oh, one last thing.' Jack folded his arms. 'Rose- hologram Rose- asked to see you.'

'Good. I need to speak to her.'

'I'll go check my Tardis,' Freyja said to him. 'She's still nattering away with yours nineteen to the dozen, or the telepathic equivalent of nineteen to the dozen. I've had to replace half the fuses in the transducer already, she keeps burning them out so fast.'

'Right…are you sure you don't want to-'

'I've spoken to _her_ already,' she said carefully. 'It's _you_ she wants.' Then she was gone.

Holo-Rose was standing in the middle of the still-wrecked museum looking wistfully at the empty plinth. One of the first things Freyja's overexcited young Tardis had done once installed in its shell was to shift spatially to sit next to the Doctor's, presumably to facilitate what he'd told Rose was an almost continuous stream of telepathic communication between the pair. The hologram turned, however, and waved as they entered.

'_Hullo you_.'

'Hullo you.' The Doctor stuck his hands into his coat pockets and regarded her silently for a moment. 'You know what I'm going to ask.'

'_I have a feeling_.'

'You know. Don't you? You know why it was her. You know why, of all the humans on this base, it was _Freyja_ who managed the big kaboom a billion years too early.'

Holo-Rose smiled sadly.

'_I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself._'

'Nuh-uh. No more riddles.' He poked her on the nose, ignoring the fact that his finger went right through her head. 'Out with it.'

'_I looked into the Tardis. And the Tardis looked into me. And even you, Doctor, for all your bag of tricks, couldn't undo that. You took the time vortex out of my mind but it still left a mark. A mark that got inherited, passed on to my children_.'

'_Children_?' Rose exclaimed. 'I…I _really_ had kids?'

'_I did. You might._'

'That's absurd!' Jack said. 'Even if Freyja's a direct descendent of your direct descendent who interbred with that human subspecies on New Earth, the chances-'

'_A genetic marker_,' holo-Rose interrupted.'_The vortex altered me at a fundamental level. A single gene, maybe two, survived even through all those tens of billions of years of evolution and change. Just one little scrap of DNA. She was the first since me to travel in time, to enter the vortex again. And then she met you, Doctor, and she met the Tardis._'

'And it triggered the gene,' the Doctor finished. 'Accelerated the evolutionary process…jumped her ahead of all the others.'

'_She was touched by the Tardis before she even met you_.'

'My god,' Rose said, thunderstruck. 'You mean she's actually my…great-great-great-great-great…something…granddaughter?'

'_Biologically_.' The hologram's tone turned dry. '_But since from history's point of view thus far you've never given birth, kiddo, don't play on the fact_.'

'Well well.' The Doctor gave an odd little laugh. 'After all that, the Tyler will out, eh? No wonder I had a feeling I'd met her before! In a sense I had.' He gave Rose a fond look.

'_So it seems_.'

'Not just another stupid ape after all!'

'_I should think not_!' Then the light-hearted air left the hologram entirely. '_But I want one last thing from you, Doctor_.'

'Name it,' he said without hesitation.

'_The Torchwood Institute stole my mind and imprisoned it here, Doctor. I've had a pompous trampoline woman crammed in my head, but here I really feel trapped._' She lifted her gaze to his appealingly. '_Please…let me go. I'm brittle with too much time._'

'Kill you?' Rose gasped.

'_I'm already dead! I've been dead for billions of years, but I can't let go!_' The hologram's voice turned bitter. '_Please, Doctor. If you ever cared about me…do this last thing_.'

He gazed at her steadily for a long moment and then reached up to touch what would have been her cheeks. Semi-transparent tears were falling from her eyes.

'They stole your mind and still left you able to cry,' he murmured. 'I've seen some cruelty in my time, but…'

'_It would have been worse if I couldn't. PLEASE, Doctor…_' she sniffed and then, in the manner of someone quoting, recited, '_I beg a boon beyond the chair of the power most high…_

'_Let me sleep, let me rest, let me die_,' he finished, smiling distantly. 'Chessis Brastheen.'

'_One of his best_. _Freyja told me that one. She's got quite a head for poetry._'

'Thank you, Rose.' He moved to the panel and took out the sonic screwdriver, glancing meaningfully at Jack and Rose. Jack took the cue first and stepped forwards.

'Well, uh…' he set his lips into a thin line '…never thought I'd see this day, Rose, hologram or not. I guess…thanks. It's been a blast. You're a helluva girl. Hologram. _Gah, _what am I saying? You're a hell of a woman!'

'_Thanks, Jack. You take care of all the boys and girls for me, eh_?'

'Will do.' He glanced at Rose and she swallowed hard, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

'Dunno what to say, really. I mean…'

'_Look after that daft lummock over there for me, will you_?'

'Yeah, 'course I will.' Rose took a breath. 'And…thanks.'

'_You're thanking me_?'

'Well…even after…everything that's happened, you know…the Tardis, the Daleks, Slitheen…everything…' she groped for the words '…I still never really _knew_ what I could do. But now…I think I do.'

The hologram smiled.

'_And don't you forget it, Rose Tyler_.'

'All set,' the Doctor said quietly. 'You ready?'

'_Far too ready_!' She turned to face him and smiled- a real smile, this time, pure happiness devoid entirely of regret or sadness. '_Goodbye, my Doctor_.'

'Goodbye,' he whispered, and flipped a switch. The image died without a sound. 'Goodbye…Rose Tyler.'

Rose realised she was crying and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

'Whoa.' Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes also looked damp. 'That…whoa. What was that quotation, Doc?'

'Chessis Brastheen,' the Doctor said. 'Rexicoricophalvitorian poet.'

'They have poets on Rexicoricophalvitorious?' Rose asked.

'Oh, yeah. Good ones, too. Bit depressing, some of it, but then most poetry tends to be depressing one way or another.' He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at his shoes for a moment, then suddenly brightened. 'What did she mean about you taking care of the boys and girls, Jack?'

'Oh, that.' Jack looked slightly embarrassed, which had to be a universal first. 'Uh…well the Centre, since they don't want to call it the Institute any more, kinda needs a new Director and when they asked me I figured it'd be a change…you know, just for a while, see how it goes…'

'No way!' Rose hugged him. '_Director_ Jack Harkness! Nice promotion!'

'Yeah, well…' he gave the Doctor a mock-glare '…you know, my life was a _lot_ easier until I met you and caught a conscience.'

'More fun this way though.' The Doctor grinned at him. 'Still, we'd better be off, eh Rose? So much universe, so little time…'

'Your ship's on pad five, _sir_,' Jack said with an exaggerated salute and a wink. 'Well, they both are.'

'Oh-er, proper landing pads and everything…I could get used to this VIP treatment…' he rattled on in a similar fashion all the way down. Rose was half-afraid the Travellers would have organised some kind of flag-parade sendoff, so she was relieved to see only Cal, Nat and Will loitering near the largest of the base's ship platforms.

'You might consider a paint job,' Will said to the Doctor, indicating the two identical Tardises sitting side by side. 'They'll get mixed up otherwise.'

'Or you could just _fix_ that damned chameleon circuit,' Jack pointed out.

'Get stuffed,' the Doctor said amiably. 'Nothing wrong with it. Twins!' As if on cue, there was a loud buzzing noise and one of the boxes abruptly morphed into an unremarkable metal crate. Freyja came out and spread her arms with a laugh. She was no longer wearing her Traveller's uniform and resembled nothing so much as a female equivalent of the Doctor in a tailored women's suit of soft beige with an overcoat that came to her knees.

'There! Fixed it!'

'Show off,' he shot back with a grin. 'How is she?'

'Raring to go! And I must admit, so am I.'

'You're off too?' Cal sounded disappointed.

'Oh yes. All sorts of things I want to see…places only a Tardis can take me!' She hugged each of them in turn. 'I'll stop in now and then, make sure Jack hasn't got you all killed.'

'Oh, _thanks_ for the vote of confidence,' Jack complained.

'Well, perhaps we'll see you around sometime,' the Doctor said.

'I imagine so. Only two Tardises in the universe; we're bound to run into each other occasionally…_Doctor_.' Then she cocked her head on one side and a slow smile spread over her face.

'What?' Rose asked, looking from her to the Doctor and back. '_Wha_-' then realisation dawned '-oh my god. You know, don't you!'

'Know what?' Jack said.

'His name!' Rose could barely contain herself. 'You know his _name_!'

'That's not all I know.' Freyja turned her smile on the Doctor. 'But I'll never tell.'

'_What_?' Rose couldn't believe that. 'Oh, come _on_! At least give us a _clue_! Is it short? Long? English? Really really alien with lots of zeds and exes? _What_?'

'It-' Freyja's smile became a wicked grin '-it suits him.'

The Doctor grinned back at her.

'Thank you,' she added, turning serious. 'For…everything.'

'You're thanking me now…'

'Perhaps. But I think I'm ready. If I weren't…I wouldn't _be_.'

'Then thank _you_,' he added. 'For everything.'

She smiled again and then stretched up to kiss him softly on the cheek before turning to Rose.

'And thank _you_, honoured ancestress!'

'You-' Rose boggled at her '-you _know_?'

'_She_ told me. I think…I _needed_ to know. Before I went and got a cheek like…well, like _someone_ we both know.'

Rose laughed.

'He's not that bad. You get used to it.'

'I'm standing _right here_,' the Doctor said pointedly, but they both ignored him.

'Off to wonders and monsters, then.' Freyja made a silly face.

'He's worth the monsters,' Rose said sincerely.

'I know that. But then so are you.' That made her laugh again and they hugged tightly before Freyja turned away back to her Tardis, entering and shutting the door behind her without further comment. The whooshing noise was the same, and it gradually faded away until the blue police box was alone on the pad. Rose sighed and looked at the Doctor. His eyes were closed and a very faint smile teased the corners of his mouth.

'What?' she asked.

'I can feel her.' He opened his eyes and beamed at her, his eyes sparkling with a new energy. 'Infinity and eternity, but I can still feel her out there.'

'Hmm. Not so lonely and forlorn any more, eh?' she asked, hanging onto his arm with a grin.

'Nope!' He chuckled. 'New new _new_ Doctor.'

'What's your name?'

'I'm not telling you.'

'Aw, come _on_…'

'_No_!'

'_Pleeeeeeeease_…'

He shook her off his arm and turned to Jack.

'_Anyway_, we'd better get going. You've got a new planet to colonise, _Director_ Jack. And whose bright idea was that?' he added deliberately to Will, Cal and Nat. They all pointed at each other. 'Oh, god. Never mind, forget I asked. Come on Rose, let's get going.'

'One minute, Doc,' Jack said. 'There's this one thing I gotta do.'

'There is?' the Doctor said quizzically.

'Yup. This-' and before anyone could do anything about it Jack had flung his arms around the Doctor, dipped him expertly backwards and was kissing him like something from the finale of a musical. Rose clapped a hand over her mouth and didn't know where to look. Nat and the others roared with laughter.

'Right,' the Doctor said, slightly dazed, when Jack finally let go of him. 'Ahem.' He absently reached up to smooth his hair. 'Right. Well. Bye then.'

'Hey, Rose, c'mere-' she got a firm kiss on the lips although, to her mild disappointment, no dip. 'You come visiting once we're organised, huh?'

'We will!' she called, jogging to catch the Doctor up as he strode towards the Tardis.

'Hmm,' he gave her a mischievous look, apparently unperturbed by an impromptu snog from Jack Harkness. 'Now, where do you fancy? I'm in a pre-revolutionary Europe sort of mood…'

Somewhere in the Promar sector a deserted planet slowly filled with a people apart from Time, headed by a crook who had become a leader.

Somewhere at the dawn of the universe a single Tardis floated, ready to watch the best fireworks display in all history.

Somewhere in the swirling mists of the time vortex the last Time Lord laughed freely for the first time in a thousand years, no longer alone in the endless night.

And somewhere on the edge of space a single timeship of the lost Institute lurked with its lone pilot, forever alone.

* * *

_**A/N:** I currently consider this the final story in the Antecedent series. Perhaps in the future I'll write more. Perhaps not. Just so's people know not to hold their breath for another chapter. Hope you enjoyed them. :) LR_


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